Man Who Gets Managers The Sack

Newcastle captain Scott Parker is the latest in a long line of players and managers who have jumped to the defence of defender Titus Bramble.

Bramble showed what strange things are buzzing around in his head when he went into the tackle on the edge of the Newcastle box on Sunday against Everton with the touch of an African elephant! He picked up a red card but most fans in the stadium saw it coming four seconds before he even made contact with the player.

Parker: 'It was his first game back from injury and he was probably feeling a bit off the pace having only trained for a couple of days.

'There's no doubting that he has great ability and he has every attribute needed to be a great centre-half. He is big and strong and there are plenty of games where he is a force, more than when he is bad.

'It didn't go for him against Everton, the crowd got on his back a little bit and he was probably a bit nervous but Titus will be fine. He's a lad that wants to listen and learn and I'm sure the manager will put his arm round him and help him out. We need to stick with Titus. He's still young, he's still learning and he need people around him who are going to help him. He will get that here at Newcastle.'

Bramble is now in his 5th season at the club, and has certainly contributed to the sackings of Sir Bobby Robson (who signed him for a large fee and tried constantly to justify it) and Graeme Souness (who always insisted Bramble and Jean-Alain Boumsong would be a class act together).

The ex-Ipswich defender will miss the trip to Old Trafford on Sunday, and I bet Luis Saha and Wayne Rooney are sad about that.